


Sachertorte

by Jezebunny



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Nonbinary My Unit | Byleth, Sign Language, Slice of Life, spoilers for epilogues that these ships are from, vague spoilers for edelgard's route
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-19 15:04:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20211742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jezebunny/pseuds/Jezebunny
Summary: Felix and Lysithea are living the coffee shop au that they dreamed of. Everyone comes for a visit. Very gen-- ships are from the epilogues I based this off of, not really explicated.





	1. Sachertorte

**Author's Note:**

> I just have a lot of emotions after this playthrough, so I wrote fic based off of the epilogues I got. Not included are Dorothea/Petra, who are off in Brigid living their best lives. And Edelgard/Hubert are... existing. I guess. Somewhere. But lol if Edelgard can pry herself away from the paperwork with Hubert there, watching.

‘But Felix? Really?’ Byleth signed ‘really’ emphatically with a tilt to their head. Lysithea rolled her eyes in response. Her expression was taken back over with a grin quickly as Byleth’s son, Fritz. The toddler burbled happily up at her, signing ‘really’ in mimic of his parent.

“Please don’t teach Fritz to doubt my decisions, Professor,” Lysithea answered, tone sugar sweet as she booped Fritz’ nose. “Besides, you’re the one who married  _ Lorenz _ of all people.”

Byleth sighed expressively. They picked up one of the small cookies Lysithea had served them and dunked it into their tea. After a quick bite, they set it back down to sign.

‘Lorenz needed me. And I do love him. I don’t doubt you. I think… that you really did make the right choice. You seem happy here. Much happier than I think you would have been with Hanneman. Did you know that I had hoped, back then, that you’d work with him after the war?’ 

“ _ Yes _ , Professor. You had him keeping me company on every battle for months. It was pretty obvious.” Lysithea took a bite of her own cookie, stopping to bask in it.

‘And Felix was supposed to be with--’

“Please don’t tell me about your teacherly romance diagrams. Have another cookie instead.” Lysithea indelicately grabbed a cookie from the tray-- chocolate, this time-- and plopped it on the edge of Byleth’s saucer.

“Am I late? Too late? Should I just go? Right away? I should--” a shrill voice followed the chime of the bakery door’s bell.

“Bernadetta, sit down,” Lysithea called impatiently.

“Oh- Okay!” Bernie’s voice went even shriller, clearly intimidated. She walked up to the table in short order, looking pale and nervous, as she always did.

‘When was the last time you left the estate?’ Byleth asked immediately. Bernie stood still, keeping her eyes low.

“U-uh. Bernie went for a walk last week. So Bernie’s been outside, just not. Far. Outside.” 

Byleth breathed in through their teeth and patted the chair next to them.

‘Hold my baby.’ They gestured at Lysithea to pass Fritz over. Fritz looked a little disturbed as Lysithea lifted him, but--

“Cookie!” Fritz signed and spoke at the same time.

“Yes, you may have a cookie,” Lysithea gave him a small shortbread cookie and held him out for Bernie to take. Bernadetta flinched, but sat and took Fritz. The tension began to slowly worm its way out of her shoulders as she held him.

“Everything okay?” Felix’s voice, soft but still terse, came from the kitchen. He was baking… something. Byleth didn’t really get how he and Lysithea had bonded so hard, but he certainly seemed  _ settled  _ now. Less angry.

“Yes! Bernie just got here, that’s all!” Lysithea called back. “Come join us when you’re done with the cake!”

Oh! So that’s what he was working on.

‘What kind of cake is it?’ Byleth asked, trying to keep the conversation light with their admittedly limited social skills.

“Huh?” Lysithea turned to catch the question, but furrowed her brow in confusion. Why--

“What kind of cake is it, Felix?”

“What?”

“I said,” Lysithea began, raising her voice even more. “What kind of cake is it?”

“Sachertorte!” he shouted in return.

“It’s Sachertorte, of course. A chocolate cake-- it’s really good!” she returned her attention to Byleth and Bernadetta, nodding firmly as though she’d known the whole time.

‘Sounds yummy,” Byleth answered.

“What’s his name?” Bernadetta asked, clearly nervous. It had been some time since they last spoke, hadn’t it?

‘Friedhold, but we call him Fritz,’ Byleth spelled out both names for her and then gave her his name sign.

“Oh… Did Lorenz pick the name, then?” Bernie clearly didn’t mean anything by it, but Byleth started laughing immediately. 

‘Yes!’ they signed, trying not to double over. ‘Yes he did!’

Bernie gasped; Lysithea clearly refused to on principle, although she did not completely conceal her shock.

“Professor!” They both said, before meeting each other’s eyes, deciding who should talk.

Lysithea won, of course. Bernie wasn’t much of a challenge here.

“You’re laughing! Bernie, you got them to laugh! Have another cookie,” Lysithea passed Bernie a darker brown cookie-- Byleth couldn’t tell what kind it was.

‘I want a cookie!’ signed Fritz, clearly only half following the conversation. He was going to want down soon, Byleth could tell. They held a hand up in a stop motion to Lysithea, who was already preparing to dole one out.

‘You can have one more. You choose whether it’s now or later,’ Byleth signed slowly, still chuckling.

“Now! ...Please.” Fritz signed, reaching his hands out. Byleth nodded to Lysithea, who passed him one.

Bernie seemed absolutely enamored with him, eyes wide and mouth in a small, nervous smile.

‘Are you planning on having kids, too?’ Byleth took a sip of their tea after finishing the question, wrinkling their nose at the small crumbs that had found their way in. The cookies were worth it, but they didn’t like the crumbs they left after.

Bernadetta laughed shrilly and shook her head.

“Nope, not for me! I’d have no idea how to take care of one!”

“And Ferdinand’s okay with that?” Lysithea’s tone was disbelieving.

“N-nobility doesn’t… really exist anymore. Edelgard… wants his responsibilities to be passed on based on merit. So. It’s okay. Probably. B- I think. He has some cousins who have the Aegir name. It’s. Going to be fine. He said it was. Do you think he wasn’t… telling the truth, or--”

Byleth patted Bernie’s shoulder.

‘If he said it’s fine, I’m sure it is.’

“Yeah!” agreed Lysithea, nodding firmly. “Besides! Being pregnant sounds terrifying, no offense, Professor! I’m  _ glad _ Felix and I decided not to have kids!”

‘It seemed-- It was pretty scary’ Byleth corrected their slip, and Lysithea’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t say anything about it directly.

“Really! It’s--”

Another bright jangle of bells rang out through the bakery, and all three adults turned their heads to see who it was.

Linhardt waved sleepily from the door, eyes closed in a quick yawn. Of course, none of them were focused on that. A small child, around the age of four or five, gaped at them from his arms. They gaped back.

“Did Caspar steal a kid?” Bernadetta asked immediately.

“No! Caspar did not steal a kid!” Caspar bellowed, following Linhardt into the bakery. A grin stretched wide across his face.

“Then-- Sorry! But--”

“But where did  _ you two _ get a kid? It’s only been a few months since you were last here! And you certainly didn’t have a child then!”

The child in question seemed a little overwhelmed now, tucking their face into Linhardt’s side.

“You’re scaring her a bit. Do you mind quieting down?” Linhardt’s tone was quiet and calm, but he didn’t really sound like he was asking.

“Sorry.” Lysithea was curt in her response, but somewhat chastened.

“We found her in a bandit camp a few villages from here. We’ve been trying to find her parents-- her name’s Marta, by the way-- but no one’s heard of them that we’ve met so far.” Caspar was quick to clarify, his own voice quieter (on Caspar this volume was still a fair bit louder than anyone else).

“What’s this about bandits?” Felix finally emerged from the kitchen, like he’d timed himself to exactly this moment.

“Oh, don’t worry about them. I took them out!” Caspar flexed, grinning. Marta giggled softly from her perch, and his grin widened.

“ _ We  _ took them out, and only just. Someone decided to rush in without planning. Again.” Linhardt set Marta down, although she hovered by his side, clearly anxious.

Felix frowned, looking at her. He glanced around the bakery and grabbed something from the counter before approaching her. Without making eye contact, he crouched down and held out the something-- a cookie.

“Have a cookie.” His hand remained extended, palm up, until Marta’s own hand darted out to grab the cookie. Felix nodded, expression resolute, and stood.

_ He and Lysithea… really are alike, aren’t they? _ Byleth mused, mind somewhat distant.

“But have any of you heard of Marta? She says her last name is… Bacht? Does that ring any bells?” Linhardt shuffled forward and took a seat at the table. Marta sat on his lap immediately, clearly not ready to leave his side. Fritz waved at her, and she waved back.

“No-” Lysithea began, but was cut off.

“Uh. Actually. Yes, I think? Someone with that name worked for us a year or two ago. I. I handle all of the estate staff and everything… So I might be misremembering, but…” Bernie trailed off hopefully.

“That’s awesome!” Caspar joined them at the table, ruffling Marta’s hair as he sat next to Linhardt. “We gotta come visit then! Maybe someone there knows where they ended up! We’ll find them, Marta!”

Wordlessly, Felix dragged a chair over, squeezing it in next to Lysithea. He sat and immediately poured himself some tea. Lysithea flashed him a quick grin, and he answered it with a small smile of his own. Neither of them seemed to realize Byleth was watching them-- which was fair. Byleth had kind of lost track of the conversation. 

“Well, Prof! What did you want to meet up for, anyway?” Caspar asked. He was practically bouncing in his chair, clearly thinking it was some grand adventure. Fritz bounced, too, mimicking him.

“Yeah! I’m curious, too!” Whatever worldless exchange Lysithea had had with Felix was over now, and she was back in action.

‘Oh. Just to catch up. I missed you!’ Byleth smiled at them. Linhardt laughed first, drily, but almost everyone joined soon after.

“Ridiculous!” Felix scoffed, but he was smirking like he was holding back laughter. “I’ll go get the cake. Since we’re all here anyway.”

“He’s going to go laugh where no one else can see him!” Lysithea crowed as he got up. She popped up after him to tail him into the kitchen. “I’m not going to let you hide!”

“Fascinating.” Linhardt muttered, leaning his head forward to rest on Marta’s shoulder. His eyes were closed, and he was clearly falling asleep.

Byleth sat back in their chair, enjoying the conviviality. They hadn’t expected this, all those years ago. Hell, they hadn’t expected this even right after the war. But. Now. Here. Here and now. Things were… good. After everything. Things were good.

  
  
  



	2. Littlest Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> linhardt & caspar talk about the past and how they got here

“Hey,” Caspar moved closer, clearly trying his best to whisper. Linhardt felt the force of Caspar’s voice, even at this low volume, as hot air on his face. Blearily, he opened an eye. It was too much work to glare, but his look was undoubtedly baleful. Luckily, Caspar was oblivious.

“I’m sorry. I need to talk to you, while Marta’s sleeping.” Linhardt opened his other eye in response, still mostly relaxed. He was in bed, after all. They’d only gotten two beds at this inn-- and sure, they could have slept outside, it was warm enough. But Marta never seemed to really sleep outdoors, and they had the money, so why not enjoy a bed? Well, because Caspar didn’t handle beds that well anymore, since the war, but--

“Linhardt!” Caspar whispered urgently. “Pay attention, okay?”

“I’m listening,” Linhardt said, unconvincingly.

“No, this is serious. Come on!” Caspar’s tone was getting tense.

“What is this about, then?” Linhardt scooted closer, hoping to benefit from Caspar’s habitually cold feet. The weather was so hot.

“I wanted to tell you about Dorothea. Well, me and Dorothea. And apologize. Because she and I had this thing where-- where after the war, we were going to settle down with each other. If we couldn’t find anyone else. And it was just because I thought you were going to go with Edelgard to that research job, but. I wanted to apologize anyway. Because I should have believed in-- In us.” Caspar wouldn’t meet his eyes. It was getting fairly dark, so it wasn’t a huge hindrance. The hitch in his voice was more concerning.

Caspar still had that habit from school, didn’t he? Where he had to make sure that everyone was on even footing in his relationships-- that both parties knew everything necessary.

“Are you with Dorothea? Are you leaving me for her?” Linhardt started drily, but Caspar couldn’t wait for him to finish.

“No! Of course not!” Caspar’s voice grew louder, like he was getting ready to shout. Well. Not ‘like’. He was. Linhardt stretched out a hand and laid it over Caspar’s mouth-- it wouldn’t stop him, but it would slow him down to think.

“Then it doesn’t matter. You’re with me. Shouting in bed with me. So don’t--” Linhardt yawned, “Don’t worry about it.”

“I can’t help it!” Caspar’s words were muffled through his hand, the feeling of his mouth moving tickled. 

“I know.”

“Did you have anyone like that?”

“Well… No promises. But it seemed like everyone was trying to plan for after the war. Like we all really wanted to believe we’d survive, which is funny in retrospect. Because we did.” 

“Who?” 

Linhardt sighed.

“Hold me, first?” He let his eyes droop a bit; he was still so tired. Caspar was terrible at saying no to this sort of thing, but the control required to hold someone safely, considering the strength he’d built up-- that control kept his attention and helped him calm down. At least in Linhardt’s experience. And Caspar did reach out after a moment, wrapping himself around Linhardt. In bed, it was even better than standing, because they could be at eye level while hugging. Not that… he’d say that. Well. Maybe.

“I suppose… Edelgard did present an excellent offer. But... I was so tired of fighting. I still am.”

Caspar laughed weakly. 

“You’re always tired!”

“Yes… And the thought of spending more time with Crests? I don’t know. I felt like I could have kept doing it forever, but it feels like… Crests and war are connected. Inextricably. Would any of the wars in Fódlan’s history have happened without Crests? It’s impossible to say, but--”

Linhardt was cut off as Caspar squeezed him a bit tighter, before pulling his head forward to rest on his shoulder.

“Linhardt… Is that really all you think about?” He sounded fond, but still tense.

“Well… I do think about fishing, sometimes. And sleeping. And--”

“Linhardt!” Caspar raised his voice a bit in mock frustration.

“And you, sometimes, too.”

Linhardt pulled back against Caspar’s hand-- and Caspar let him, of course, his teasing smile only barely visible in the light (Probably. He couldn’t see his own face, after all. Just Caspar’s, with his own expression slowly metamorphosing into a grin.) He kissed Caspar softly on the mouth.

Or. Close to the mouth. He was tired enough now that he missed. Close enough for his purposes, which were to make Caspar laugh. Caspar’s chuckle was warm.

“I don’t think it matters. Who we could have chosen. Who might have chosen us.  _ We _ chose each other, didn’t we? Thinking about hypotheticals like that… it’s a waste of time,” Linhardt murmured, eyes drifting shut.

“...thinking about hypotheticals is, like, half of what you do, isn’t it? Aren’t you being a bit hypocritical?”

“Yes. Let’s sleep now.”

Caspar cuddled closer, hand drifting up to rest between Linhardt’s shoulders and give him another squeeze. His laughter shook Linhardt’s face, not that he minded. It was nice. He fell asleep.

_(And when Marta did wake them later, tired and disconsolate and scared, Linhardt was able to wake up just enough to scoot over and let her have the space between them.)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just thinking about linhardt & caspar and caspar's need to just get things out there  
idk the edel route keeps growing on me,,,,  
i'm attached to these pairings i was actively sabotaging and idk what to do anymore  
does anyone know where the cool kids post fanmixes nowadays? i can't find any for this game and i need them


End file.
